Lee Ohanian in the Wall St Journal

Nearly half of millennials say they prefer socialism to capitalism, but what do they mean? “My policies most closely resemble what we see in the U.K., in Norway, in Finland, in Sweden,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez told “60 Minutes.” Yet Sweden’s experiment with socialist policies was disastrous, and its economic success in recent decades is a […]

In Memory of Harold Demsetz

Harold Demsetz was a Professor of Economics at UCLA from 1971 until his retirement (if he ever really retired). He was the Arthur Andersen Chair in Business Economics and chaired the UCLA Department of Economics from 1978-1980. He was also elected fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. But the most important thing about […]

Rodrigo Pinto Paper Makes “Best of 2018”

Each year Quartz, a digital publication that’s part of Atlantic Media, publishes a list on Economics Research That Shaped Our World. This year include Professor Rodrigo Pinto’s paper on “Noncompliance as a Rational Choice”. This paper finds that growing up in an affluent neighborhood leads to better economic outcomes as an adult. Nobel prize winner Jim Heckman writes: “Randomized control […]

Moritz Meyer-ter-Vehn appointed Editor of Review of Economic Design

The UCLA Department of Economics is very happy to announce that Associate Professor Moritz Meyer-ter-Vehn has been appointed as an Editor for the Review of Economic Design! The Review of Economic Design explores the art and science of inventing, analyzing, and testing economic, social, and political institutions and mechanisms. The journal applies normative and positive economics and […]

Former UCLA PhD Student Fights Extradition

This piece originally appeared in the Wall Street Journal. Political persecution drove former Colombian agriculture minister Andrés Felipe Arias to flee to the U.S. in 2014. The U.S. Embassy in Bogotá helped him escape, and when he arrived in Florida he immediately applied for asylum. But if Mr. Arias thought he was safe, he wasn’t taking […]

Lee Ohanian op-Ed on France in The Hill

French President Emmanuel Macron’s ambitious goal of creating a vibrant and competitive French economy through major economic reforms came crashing down last week when riots over issues ranging from fuel taxes to inequality forced him to backpedal on some of his key reform ideas. With an approval rating of around 20 percent and plummeting, Macron […]

California Policy Lab Awarded $1.2M UC Multicampus Research Grant

Berkeley–The California Policy Lab (CPL) was awarded a $1.2 million grant from the University of California’s Multicampus Research Programs and Initiatives to leverage experts across the UC system to tackle complex problems that include homelessness and designing education and training to meet workforce needs. “With this grant, new scholars will provide expertise needed for projects […]

CPL Welcomes Members from Law Enforcement and Research Communities for Conference on Policing Innovation and Reform

On Friday, November 30th, the California Policy Lab (CPL) hosted colleagues from the law enforcement and research communities for a conference on policing innovation and reform. Over the course of the day, participants heard from local and national law enforcement leaders, researchers, practitioners, and subject matter experts about the challenges of implementing policing reform on […]

Are banks now safer?

UCLA Department of Economics Professors Andrew Atkeson and Pierre-Olivier Weill, along with UCLA Anderson School of Management professor Andrea Eisfeldt, and former UCLA Ph.D student Adrien D’Avernas, co-authored a paper for the 33rd Annual Conference on Macroeconomics (April 12-13, 2018).  Their paper, Government Guarantees and the Valuation of American Banks, is currently featured on the National Bureau […]

Martin Hackman featured in Bloomberg

A recent article in Bloomberg Opinion has cited a new study by UCLA Department of Economics Professor Martin Hackmann and University of Georgia professor Vincent Pohl. According to Bloomberg: The study uses comprehensive data on 1.4 million skilled nursing-home stays between 2000 and 2005 in California, New Jersey, Ohio and Pennsylvania. It takes advantage of two facts. First, […]